Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006, pp.273–283 HOMOTOPY TRANSITION COCYCLES JAMES WIRTH and JIM STASHEFF (communicated by Hvedri Inassaridze) Abstract For locally homotopy trivial fibrations, one can define transition functions gαβ : Uα ∩ Uβ → H = H(F ) where H is the monoid of homotopy equivalences of F to itself but, instead of the cocycle condition, one obtains only that gαβ gβγ is homotopic to gαγ as a map of Uα ∩ Uβ ∩ Uγ into H. Moreover, on multiple intersections, higher homotopies arise and are relevant to classifying the fibration. The full theory was worked out by the first author in his 1965 Notre Dame thesis [17]. Here we present it using language that has been developed in the interim. We also show how this points a direction ‘on beyond gerbes’. 1. Introduction In the theory of fibre bundles E → B, a key role is played by transition functions gαβ : Uα ∩Uβ → G with respect to an open cover {Uα } of B. Here G is the structural group of the bundle and acts as a group of transformations on the fibre F . One of the striking properties of transition functions is the cocycle condition gαβ gβγ = gαγ on Uα ∩ Uβ ∩ Uγ . For fibrations, the situation is more complicated. Assuming the fibration is locally homotopy trivial, one can define transition functions gαβ : Uα ∩ Uβ → H = H(F ) where H is the monoid of homotopy equivalences of F to itself but instead of the cocycle condition, one obtains only that gαβ gβγ is homotopic to gαγ as a map of Uα ∩ Uβ ∩ Uγ into H. Moreover, on multiple intersections, higher homotopies arise and are relevant to classifying the fibration. The full theory was worked out by the first author in his Notre Dame thesis [17]. The intervening years have provided a language which helps organize the technicalities, though ` in no way eliminating them. If {Uα } is the open covering, the disjoint union Uα can be given a rather innocuous structure of a topological Received September 17, 2006, revised December 11, 2006; published on December 26, 2006. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 55R05, 55R35, 55S37, 18B30. Key words and phrases: fibrations, transition cocycles, higher homotopies. c 2006, James Wirth and Jim Stasheff. Permission to copy for private use granted. ° Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 274 ` ` category U , i.e., Ob U = Uα and Mor U = Uα ∩ Uβ that is x ◦ y = x = y is defined iff x ∈ Uα , y ∈ Uβ and x = y. Regarding G or H as a category with one object in the standard way, the one cocycle condition says that the transition functions define a continuous functor. The web of higher homotopies appropriate to a fibration are precisely equivalent to a functor up to strong homotopy, also known as a homotopy coherent functor, which does arise in other contexts involving topological categories [4]. Lest the above give the impression that we have only to translate naturally occurring homotopies into a fancy language, we point out that some powerful topology is necessary to construct fibrations or equivalences of fibrations from the homotopy cocycle data. In particular, the first author’s patching/glueing/recollement (mapping cylinder) theorem, which is of fundamental importance in more general fibration theories, is essential [17]. Recent developments in higher homotopy theory and especially higher gauge theory [1] have inspired us to produce this belated and somewhat updated public version of the first author’s work. Preliminary versions and a talk at the University of Pennsylvania have led us to work of Breen [2, 3] and of Simpson and Hirschowitz [7] which have intriguing points of contact with Wirth’s much earlier thesis. Breen was well aware at the time of [2] of the relation to higher homotopy theory in the context of locally homotopy trivial fibrations. On the other hand, gerbes are closely related to a special case of the homotopy transition cocycles we consider. We restrict our point of view to the original topological setting of Wirth’s dissertation, leaving to the future further development of the higher homotopy cocycle point of view, especially in relation to algebraic geometry, that is, further ‘pursuing stacks’. In Section 1, we begin with a swift review of standard material about fibrations and see how the higher order transition homotopies occur naturally. In Section 2, we review the realization of a topological category C as a space, observe that for a numerable cover {Uα } of B, the realization |U| has the homotopy type of B [9] and show how a functor up to strong homotopy is sufficient to induce a map of ' realizations. Thus a fibration E → B produces a map B → |U| → |H| = BH, the classifying space of H = H(F ) as a topological monoid. Our emphasis is on the cocycle point of view, although such classifying maps can also be constructed by studying the action of the based loop space ΩB of the base B on the fibre F , that is, in terms of an A∞ -map of ΩB to H(F ) [11, 10]. In Section 3, we do the topology, showing how to construct a fibration from the higher order transition functions. The usual universal example over BH is only a quasi-fibration. Although this could be improved to a fibration by Fuchs’ technique [6], Wirth’s construction provides a perspicuous alternative. In Section 4, we confront the full classification theorem: Equivalent fibrations correspond to homotopic functors up to strong homotopy which in turn correspond to homotopic classifying maps. In terms of transition functions, this appears as a direct though complicated generalization of cocycles up to cobounding cocycles. In Section 5, Wirth’s concept of a “fibration theory” is axiomatized. Here too the patching theorem is crucial. Finally, in section 6, we show the relation of our approach to foliations and Hae- Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 275 fliger structures. We also discuss briefly how gerbes provide a particular instantiation of homotopy transition cocycles of a particular ‘truncated’ type, leaving for further development the relation to the work of Breen and of Simpson and Hirschowitz. 2. Fibrations and transition functions Since we wish to look at things from a homotopy invariant, not geometric, point of view, a natural class of fibrations to consider is that of Dold fibrations, those with the WCHP (Weak Covering Homotopy Property)[5]. Definition 2.1. A map p : E → B has the WCHP if for every homotopy H : X × I → B and h : X → E such that ph(x) = H(x, 0), there exists a homotopy H̃ : X × [−1, 1] → E such that H̃(x, −1) = h(x) and pH̃(x, t) = H(x, t) for t ∈ [0, 1] while pH̃(x, t) = H(x, 0) for t ∈ [−1, 0]. In other words, H is covered by a homotopy whose initial position is vertically homotopic to h. On the other hand, since our emphasis will be on local data such as transition functions, it is more appropriate to consider locally homotopy trivial fibrations. Definition 2.2. A map p : E → B is locally homotopy trivial over an open covering {Uα } if there exist maps hα and kα such that the following diagrams commute: p−1 (Uα ) hα −→ ←− kα & Uα × F (1) . (2) Uα and hα and kα are mutual fibre homotopy inverses. The two are related by the following: Theorem 2.3 (Dold). Let B be a topological space which admits a numerable covering {Uα } such that each inclusion Uα ⊂ B is nullhomotopic, then p has the WCHP if and only if p is fiber homotopy trivial over each Uα . Let H(F ) be the monoid of all homotopy equivalences of F to itself. Definition 2.4. The transition functions gαβ : Uα ∩ Uβ → H(F ) are defined by the equation ¡ ¢ hα kβ (x, f ) = x, gαβ (x)(f ) , x ∈ Uα ∩ Uβ , f ∈ F. For nice F , gαβ will be continuous with respect to the compact-open topology on H(F ); otherwise we are content that the adjoint ḡαβ : Uα ∩ Uβ × F → F Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 276 is continuous. Now consider the cocycle condition. We have ¡ ¢ x, gαβ (x)gβγ (x)f = hα kβ hβ kγ (x, f ) which is fiber homotopic to (but not necessarily equal to) hα kγ (x, f ). To go any further, we use specific homotopies jα : I × Uα × Fα → Uα × F from kα ◦ hα at 0 to the identity at 1. Given them, we define gαβγ : I × Uα ∩ Uβ ∩ Uγ → H(F ) by ¡ ¢ ¡ ¢ x, gαβγ (t, x)f = hα jβ t, kγ (x, f ) . Rather than write down the complicated formulas in general, consider four-fold intersections. Over Uα ∩ Uβ ∩ Uγ ∩ Uδ we have the diagram of homotopies gαβγ gγδ gαβ gβγ gγδ −−−−−→ gαγ gγδ gαγδ gαβ gβγδ y y gαβ gβδ −−−−→ gαβδ gαδ . Since they are defined in terms of jβ and jγ which are independent, it is straightforward to define gαβγδ : I 2 × Uα ∩ Uβ ∩ Uγ ∩ Uδ → H(F ) by ³ ¡ ¢ ¡ ¢´ x, gαβγδ (t, s, x)f = hα jβ t, jγ s, kδ (x, f ) . In general for an n+1-fold intersection Uσ = Uα0 ∩· · ·∩Uαn with σ = (α0 , · · · , αn ), we define gσ : I n−1 × Uσ → H(F ) by ³ ´ ¡ ¢ ¡ ¢ x, gσ (t1 , · · · , tn−1 , x)f = hα0 jα1 t1 , · · · , jαn−1 tn−1 , kαn (x1 , f ) · · · and these are compatible in the following way: If σi = (α0 , · · · , α̂i , · · · , xn ) and (ε, i)(I n−1 ) is the face ti = ε (ε = 0 or 1), then for i = 1, · · · , n − 1: gσ |(1, i)(I n−1 ) × Uσ = gσi gσ |(0, i)(I n−1 ) × Uσ = g(α0 ,··· ,αi ) g(αi ,··· ,αn ) . Definition 2.5. The collection {gσ } is called a homotopy transition cocycle for p : E → B. These relations are the key to the categorical language we introduce next. 3. Topological categories and realization One construction of a classifying map for, e.g. G-bundles, [9, 14] regards the covering U = {Uα } as a category so that the construction B can be applied to Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 277 give BU of the homotopy type of X [except for language, this was known to our ancestors] and to interpret the transition functions as a functor so that they induce X ' BU → BG. The classifying property can be verified directly if we choose the appropriate realization, Milnor’s construction [8] of a classifying space for a topological group, which has built in a nice “universal” open cover. Definition 3.1. A category is a topological category if the objects and morphisms form topological spaces such that the source, target and composition maps are continuous. Definition 3.2. The realization |C| of a topological category C is the following space: Let C0 = Ob C, C1 = Mor C, Cp ⊂ (Mor C)p consists of all p-tuples (f1 , · · · , fp ) such that f1 ◦ · · · ◦ fp is defined. Consider the subset BC ⊂ ∆∞ × (C1 )∞ consisting of pairs (~t, {gij }) such that 1) ~t ∈ ∆∞ 2) i, j runs over all pairs such that ti tj 6= 0 3) gij ∈ Mor C and gii = Idi and 4) gij gjk = gik if ti tj tk 6= 0. (Thus Milnor’s reference to “the space of cocyles with values in C.”) Topologize this space by the limit of the quotient topologies of the maps ∆n × Cn → BC given by (s0 , · · · , sn , g1 , · · · , gn ) → (~t, {gij }) with tkj = sj for some k0 < k1 < · · · < kn and gki kj = gi+1 · · · gj . The universal cover of BC is given by Ui = {t−1 i (0, 1]} and the gij coordinates regarded as functions Ui ∩ Uj → C are universal transition functions. (Strictly speaking, the Ui are only point-finite, but following Dold, we can deform the original ti to functions t̄i which are locally finite so the associated t̄−1 i (0, 1] are also.) Now an open covering {Uα } can be regarded as a category Û in a rather trivial way. For simplicity, well order the index set or, perhaps more naturally, following Segal [9], let the objects be the points of the intersections Uσ and let the morphisms be given by the inclusions. This is effectively and hence ` the barycentric subdivision ` has a natural partial order. Let Ob C = Uα and Mor C = α>β Uα ∩ Uβ with source(x ∈ Uα ∩Uβ ) = x ∈ Uα and target(x ∈ Uα ∩Uβ ) = x ∈`Uβ . Thus the compo` sition is defined only for x ∈ Uα ∩Uβ ∩Uγ , α > β > γ and Cp = Uα0 · · · Uαp = Uσ for ordered simplices σ. We refer to |U| as the exploded X. There is a natural map π : |U| → X given by forgetting the simplicial cordinates and the multi-index. If the covering is numerable, i.e., admits a subordinate partition of unity {pα0 (x), · · · , pαn (x)} for x ∈ Uσ , σ = (α0 , · · · , αn ), there is a corresponding map ρ : X → |U |. Indeed, this embeds X as a deformation retract of |U|. Now what is a continuous functor from U to C? It is a collection of maps fα : Uα → Ob C gαβ : Uα ∩ Uβ → Mor C such that fα = gαβ fβ (3) Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 278 and gαβ gβγ = gαγ . (4) If Ob C consists of a single point, the first condition is trivial. This is the case for a topological group G = C and gives rise to the classifying map for a bundle ' X → |U| → |G| = BG. About the same time as Wirth’s dissertation, tom Dieck [14] proved that Milnor’s universal bundle EG classifies numerable G-bundles over arbitrary spaces by giving explicit formulas. Later, Wellen [16] in his diplomarbeit extended the classification theorem to the case of groupoids G. As we have seen, for a locally trivial fibration, we cannot guarantee the cocycle condition (2) except up to homotopy. Definition 3.3. Given two topological categories C and D, a functor up to strong homotopy (also known as a homotopy coherent functor) is a collection of maps F0 : Ob C → Ob D Fp : I p−1 × Cp → Mor D such that F1 (c :x → y) : F0 (x) → F0 (y) Fp (t1 , · · · , tp−1 , c1 , · · · , cn ) = Fp−1 (· · · , t̂i , · · · , ci ci+1 , · · · ) = Fi (t1 , · · · , ti−1 , c1 , · · · , ci )Fp−i (ti+1 , · · · , ci+1 , · · · , cp ) if ti = 0 if ti = 1. For the special case in which the categories have one object and their morphisms therefore form a monoid, the equivalent notion is that of a Strongly Homotopy Multiplicative (shm) map due to Sugawara [13] as are the formulas for the corresponding map of classifying spaces/realizations. The point is that (F0 , F1 ) does not respect the identifications on the nose, but the higher homotopies and the connective tissue in the realization allow one to get around this. Theorem 3.4. A functor up to strong homotopy C to D induces a map of realizations |C| → |D|. In our case, our homotopy transition cocycles can be described as a strong homotopy functor. Thus we have: Theorem 3.5. Given p : E → B locally homotopy trivial with respect to a covering {Uα }, a choice of coherent transition functions gσ : I n−1 × Uσ → H(F ) determines a map B → BH(F ). To complete the classification, we need the converse and uniqueness up to homotopy. As for bundles, this follows from the construction of a universal fibration. Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 4. 279 Construction of fibrations ` For bundles, the construction from transition functions is very easy: E : Uα × F/gαβ , i.e., for x ∈ Uα ∩Uβ , (x, f ) ∈ Uβ ×F is identified with (x, gαβ (x)f ) ∈ Uα ×F . For fibrations, ` not only do the transition functions {gαβ } not give an equivalence relation on Uα ×F because the cocycle condition may fail, but the obvious attempt to use the mapping cylinder M (gαβ ) over Uα ∩ Uβ × I may only produce a quasifibration [15, 18]. However Wirth has shown: Theorem 4.1. Mapping Cylinder Theorem (Wirth [18]) Let φ : E0 → E1 be a fibre homotopy equivalence over B, then there is an object M̃ (φ) over I × B which serves as a mapping cylinder for φ, i.e., M̃ (φ)|0 × B is E0 and M̃ (φ)|1 × B is E1 and, moreover, there is a characterizing homotopy equivalence ψ from M̃ (φ) to I × E1 such that ψ|0 × B = 0 × φ and ψ|1 × B = Id. In fact, the ordinary mapping cylinder will do if φ is either a strong deformation retract or is a fibration itself in the category of spaces over B. Finally any map over B factors into a strong deformation retract over B followed by a fibration-over-B, just as an ordinary map factors into a strong deformation retract followed by an (induced from a path space) fibration. That is, φ can be factored as E0 → E(φ) → E1 where E(φ) = {(e, λ)|e ∈ E, λ : I → p−1 1 (p0 (e)), φ(e) = λ(0)}. Thus given the transition functions {gαβ : Uα × Uβ → H(F )} for α > β, we let a E0 = Uα × F and E1 = E0 ∪ M̃ (gαβ ) with the obvious identifications. Just as we can regard ∆n as the mapping cylinder of ˙ n → ∗, so we can regard |U| as obtained by adding successive mapping cylinders to ∆ ` Uα . Let |U|(n) ⊂ |U| be the subspace represented by points with at most 1)` (n + ˙n× simplicial coordinates not equal to zero. Then |U|(n) = |U|(n − 1) ∪ σ M (∆ ∗) × Uσ for all n-simplices σ. Thus to extend E1 to a fibration` over |U|(2), etc., we need to attach to E1 something of the homotopy type of ¡ Uαβγ × F . ¢Let hαβγ : I × Uαβγ × F → Uαβγ × F be defined by hαβγ (t, x, f ) = x, gαβγ (t, x)f so that hαβγ is a fibre homotopy equivalence over Uαβγ . ` Now let E2 = E1 ∪ α>β>γ I 2 × Uαβγ × F attached by (s, t, x, f ) ∼ (t, x, f ) ∼ (s, x, f ) ∼ (s, x, gβγ (x)f ) ∼ (x, gαβγ (t, x)f ) if s = 0 if t = 0 if t = 1 if s = 1. Constructed in this way, E2 will be only a quasi-fibration in general. The proper construction is to regard the above identifications as giving a fibre homotopy equiv- Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 280 alence φαβγ of ∂I 2 ×Uαβγ ×F to E1 |∆2 ×Uαβγ and then to attach Wirth’s M̃ (φαβγ ) instead of I 2 × Uαβγ × F . From Wirth’s construction, there is a chracterizing fibre homotopy equivalence ψαβγ : I 2 × Uαβγ × F → M̃ (φαβγ ) ⊂ E2 . The general construction should now be clear. Let En be constructed inductively over |U|(n). Define a fibre homotopy equivalence ψσ : ∂I n × Uσ × F → En−1 |∂∆n × Uσ by ψσ (t1 , · · · , tn , x, f ) = = ψσi (· · · , t̂i , · · · , x, f ) = ψα0 ···αi−1 (t1 , · · · , ti−1 , x, gαi−1 ···αn (ti+1 , · · · , tn , x, f )) if ti = 0 if ti = 1 where ψαβ = gαβ and ψα = id. Define En = En−1 ∪σ M̃ (φσ ) and let ψσ : I n × Uσ × F → M̃ (φσ ) ⊂ En be Wirth’s characterizing fibre homotopy equivalence. In particular, this construction applies to the universal cover {Ui } of BH(F ) with transition functions gij (~t, {cαβ }) = cij where defined. Notice here gij gjk = gjk (the identity is a true functor), but it is still important to use M̃ in constructing the universal fibration, which is denoted U E since we shall see it is the universal example of a (WCHP) fibration with fibre F . 5. Equivalence of fibrations and transition functions Given that fibre homotopy equivalence is the appropriate notion, we need to investigate the appropriate equivalence of transition functions. Steenrod [12] observes that for bundles pi : E i → B, i = 1, 2 with respect to two coverings U = {Uα1 } and 1 2 V = {Vγ2 } with corresponding transition functions {gαβ } and {gγδ }, the bundles are equivalent if and only if there exist maps ḡαγ : Uα ∩Vγ → G, the group ` of the bundle, 1 2 such that {gαβ , gγδ ,`ḡαγ } satisfies the cocycle condition. Consider U V = {Uα , Vγ }. The realization |U V| has |U| and |V| as deformation retracts, so the cocycle con1 dition above yields a homotopy between the classifying maps between {gαβ } and 2 {gγδ }. Similarly we define two transition functions {gσi : I n−1 × Uσi → H(F ` )}, i = 1, 2, to be equivalent if their union extends to a transition function on U V. Thus fibre homotopy equivalent fibrations pi : E i → X with given fibre F yield homotopic maps X → BH(F ). [If pi : E i → X are locally homotopy trivial with typical fibres F 1 ' F 2 , then BH(F 1 ) ' BH(F 2 ) via an equivalence induced by shm maps H(F 1 ) À H(F 2 ).] Conversely, it is standard that homotopic maps induce equivalent fibrations, cf. one of the ‘Axioms of a fibration theory’ (see section 6). Thus we are ready to prove: Theorem 5.1. For a space F , fibre homotopy equivalence classes of fibrations p : E → X locally homotopy trivial with respect to numerable covers of X are in 1-1 Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 281 correspondence with homotopy classes of maps X → BH(F ). The correspondence is induced by the classifying map construction above or by the pullback of U E. We have left to show that if f : X → |U| → BH(F ) is constructed from transition functions for p : E → X, then f ∗ U E is fibre homotopy equivalent to E and that the classifying construction for U E produces a map homotopic to the identity. Just as |U| → X is induced by forgetting simplicial coordinates, so is f ∗ U E → E also and, since it induces a homotopy equivalence on each fibre, is a fibre homotopy equivalence [5]. Strictly speaking, for U E the classifying map BH(F ) → |U| → BH(F ) is only homotopic to the identity since the open sets Ui are t̄−1 i (0, 1] rather than t−1 i (0, 1]. This discussion should make it clear that a corresponding classification theorem holds for any fibration theory as axiomatised by Wirth [17]. 6. Fibration theories A fibration theory is an assignment of a category E(B) to each topological space B and of a contravariant functor f ∗ : E(C) → E(B) to each continuous map f : B → C such that id∗ is the identity functor and satisfying: Axiom I: For a numerable open cover {Ui } of a space B and a system of objects (or morphisms) {Ei } over each Ui such that Ei and Ej agree over Ui ∩ Uj , then there exists a unique common extension of the Ei over B. Axiom II: If φ is a morphism in E(B) such that each restriction φ|Ui for a numerable open cover {Ui } of B is a homotopy equivalence, the φ is a homotopy equivalence. Axiom III: If H ∈ E(I × B), then the restrictions H|{t} × B are homotopy equivalent (for objects) or homotopic (for morphisms). Axiom IV (Mapping Cylinder Axiom) If φ : E → E 0 ∈ E(B) is a homotopy equivalence, then there is an object M (φ) ∈ E(I × B) which serves as a mapping cylinder for φ, that is, M (φ) restricts to E at t = 0 and to E 0 at t = 1 with a charcterising homotopy equivalence ψM : M (φ) → I × E 0 which restricts to {0} × φ, respectively {1} × id. 7. Foliations and Gerbes An approach similar to that for fibrations works for generalized foliations or Haefliger structures. For a topological space X, a Haefliger q-structure {Uα , fα , gαβ } consists of an open cover {Uα }, maps fα : Uα → Rq and transition functions gαβ : Uα ∩ Uβ → Diffeo Rq such that fα (α) = gαβ (x) ◦ fβ (x) for x ∈ Uα ∩ Uβ . These satisfy Wirth’s Axiom I trivially. The other Axioms are modified by 1) replacing homotopy equivalence by diffeomorphism and 2) defining equivalence of Haefliger structures to mean being induced from a structure on X ×I. Thus the above method of classification applies. This emphasizes the central importance of cylinder objects and their relation to equivalence in still more general structure theories. The essence of all that we have said is the relation of local to global via patching/glueing/recollement. The compatabilities are sometimes referred to as descent Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 282 data, whether in our naive topological setting or more generally for e.g. topoi. For example, a gerbe can be specified by descent data in terms of an open cover {Uα } and a groupoid Gα for each Uα with ‘transition’ morphisms gαβ ∈ Gαβ and morphisms cαβγ ∈ Gαβγ acting by conjugation so that gαβ gβγ = Ad(cαβγ )gαγ on Uα ∩ Uβ ∩ Uγ for an inverible element cαβγ . The role of the homotopy gαβγ is played by conjugation with cαβγ and such conjugation in a group corresponds to a homotopy at the classifying space level. The higher homotopies on further multiple intersections do not appear for gerbes since the cαβγ satisfy a strict coherence condition. However, as Breen suggests, a 2-gerbe can be specified by descent data requiring coherence at a higher level. There’s work to be done ‘pursueing stacks’ and perhaps more exotic objects. References [1] John C. Baez and Urs Schreiber. Higher gauge theory. preprint, 2005. math.DG/0511710. [2] Lawrence Breen. Théorie de Schreier supérieure. Ann. Sci. École Norm. Sup. (4), 25(5):465–514, 1992. [3] Lawrence Breen. On the classification of 2-gerbes and 2-stacks. Astérisque, 225:160, 1994. [4] Jean-Marc Cordier and Timothy Porter. Homotopy coherent category theory. Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 349(1):1–54, 1997. [5] Albrecht Dold. Partitions of unity in the theory of fibrations. Ann. of Math. (2), 78:223–255, 1963. [6] Martin Fuchs. A modified Dold-Lashof construction that does classify Hprincipal fibrations. Math. Ann., 192:328–340, 1971. [7] André Hirschowitz and Carlos Simpson. Descente pour les n-champs (descent for n-stacks). preprint, 1998. math.AG/9807049 . [8] John Milnor. Construction of universal bundles. II. Ann. of Math. (2), 63:430–436, 1956. [9] Graeme Segal. Classifying spaces and spectral sequences. Inst. Hautes Études Sci. Publ. Math., 34:105–112, 1968. [10] James D. Stasheff. Parallel transport and classification of fibrations. In Algebraic and geometrical methods in topology (Conf. Topological Methods in Algebraic Topology, State Univ. New York, Binghamton, N.Y., 1973), pages 1–17. Lecture Notes in Math., Vol. 428. Springer, Berlin, 1974. Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, vol. 1(1), 2006 283 [11] James Dillon Stasheff. “Parallel” transport in fibre spaces. Bol. Soc. Mat. Mexicana (2), 11:68–84, 1966. [12] Norman Steenrod. The topology of fibre bundles. Princeton Landmarks in Mathematics. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1999. Reprint of the 1957 edition, Princeton Paperbacks. [13] M Sugawara. On the homotopy-commutativity of groups and loop spaces. Mem. Coll. Sci. Univ. Kyoto, Ser. A Math., 33:257–269, 1960/61. [14] Tammo tom Dieck. Klassifikation numerierbarer Bündel. Arch. Math. (Basel), 17:395–399, 1966. [15] Patricia Tulley. A strong homotopy equivalence and extensions for Hurewicz fibrations. Duke Math. J., 36:609–619, 1969. [16] Heinz Wellen. Projektive Diagramme über topologischen kategorien, 1990. Diplomarbeit. [17] James F. Wirth. Fiber spaces and the higher homotopy cocycle relations. PhD thesis, University of Notre Dame, 1965. [18] James F. Wirth. The mapping cylinder axiom for WCHP fibrations. Pacific J. Math., 54(2):263–279, 1974. This article may be accessed via WWW at http://jhrs.rmi.acnet.ge James Wirth wirthj@mail.ecu.edu Computer Science Dept. East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858-4353 Jim Stasheff jds@math.upenn.edu Math Dept. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, 19104-6395